Inside the Star

Could Richard III be buried in a parking lot?

A team of archeologists, historians, geneticists and a forensic psychologist hope they will make history within the next two weeks and find the burial place and skeletal remains of Richard III in the most unlikely of spots, a Leicester parking lot.

A team of archeologists, historians, geneticists and a forensic psychologist hope they will make history within the next two weeks and find the burial place and skeletal remains of Richard III in the most unlikely of spots, a Leicester parking lot.

And if the latest media reports from the dig site prove to be true — the team may already have found medieval walls that might be part of the church where Richard III was originally buried.

The Greyfriars project has captured the imagination of a nation — and none more than native Canadian Michael Ibsen, a 55-year-old who now lives in London, England where he makes furniture.

Ibsen is a descendant of Richard III’s eldest sister Anne, the Duchess of Exeter. And he — or rather his DNA — will be playing a key role in the investigation should a skeleton be found underneath the parking lot.

Simply put: His mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA — which is passed down in the female egg — will be the genetic key that will help make history and answer the question: Is it or isn’t it Richard III?

“If they find a skeleton I don’t know how I’ll feel,” Ibsen told the Star. “But I think the historical significance for this country would be significant.

“To realize we’ve inherited his family’s DNA and know that it’s gone to help identify him that would be fantastic and a privilege really. But it’s a big if.”

It was Ibsen’s mother who was originally contacted about her connection to Richard III and his eldest sister. She gave mitochondrial DNA in 2005 and it was used to help identify remains of one of Richard’s sisters, said historian John Ashdown-Hill who tracked down Ibsen’s mother as a descendant of Anne, Richard’s eldest sister.

And now Ibsen’s mitochondrial DNA — which he shares with his sister who lives on Vancouver Island and his brother who lives in Toronto — will be central to determining whether any remains found at the dig belong to Richard III.

Growing up, Ibsen had no idea he was related to the sister of a king — and not just any king, but one with a very controversial history.

Helping identify any remains found in the friary will be Turi King, a native Vancouver geneticist now working as a research fellow at the University of Leicester.

“Essentially what we want to do is if we find a skeleton that looks like it might be Richard III … (is) look at Michael’s mitochondrial DNA and see if it matches the skeleton,” explained King, who will work on the genetic side with Paul Brotherton, an ancient DNA specialist from the University of Huddersfield.

“I think it’s a long shot, but I think it’s really exciting if we do manage to find somebody. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime,” she said. The work would take weeks.

Richard the III was killed in 1485 at the Bosworth — the site of the last major battle of the War of the Roses that pitted Richard’s House of York against the Lancastrians led by Henry Tudor.

Richard’s body was reportedly brought back to Leicester where it was publicly displayed and then interred by the Greyfriars, an order of Franciscan monks. According to historical accounts, he was buried in the Greyfriars choir — between the nave and the altar — of the church. Henry VII was said to have later paid for an alabaster tomb for the man he vanquished.

But soon after all evidence of the church and the tomb was destroyed by Henry VIII and the location of both the Greyfriars church and the body of Richard III have remained a mystery for centuries. Some even believed that Richard’s body was exhumed and disposed of in the nearby river Soar.

The Greyfriars project is headed by Richard Buckley, co-director of the University of Leicester’s archeological services, and Phillipa Langley, a screenwriter working on a film about Richard III and also a member of the Scottish Branch of the Richard III Society.

Using historical maps and a current city map of Leicester, the team for the project concluded the most likely spot for the Greyfriars was right under the city council parking lot. Excavation will continue until Sept. 9, Ashdown-Hill said. The dig is also being filmed as a documentary to run on British television later this year.

So far the team has dug two trenches and found what they think might be the medieval walls of the friary. And a third trench is to be dug soon. “It’s very exciting,” said Buckley in an interview with the Star. “We are getting indication of wall lines.”

Archeologists will now go in and take samples to give the team a better idea of what the walls might be and what buildings they might be from. “I’m very confident that we’re on to something in terms of being in the right place for Greyfriars,” said Buckley.

“As to finding the remains of Richard III, it’s a bit of a long shot. We’re still very enthused and excited about the prospect of learning more about the buildings of Greyfriars,” he said.

“Stranger things have happened so you never know. It depends on what we find in the next few days.

“If we strike it really lucky and we find what we think is the church, and even luckier in that we find some burial sites, we would do some sample recovery, then get a human bone specialist to check if age and sex was correct and see if the body had any traumas (consistent) with someone who had been killed in battle.”

Then the critical genetic testing will take place to see if the body might be Richard III.

But whatever happens, Buckley believes the project, from an archeological point of view, is very exciting. “It’s not very often we get to look at this part of Leicester. This is a research project within a heavily built part of the city.”